Auror Driving School
by MuggleBeene
Summary: Harry Potter is determined to modernize the Auror Corps, and one idea is that they need to learn to drive like Muggles. He enlists Hank Boyd to help him teach the class, but Ron Weasley has a bit of a problem. Part of the Professor Muggle story series.


**Auror Driving School**

_**A/N: This story takes place after 'Professor Muggle and the Lost Witch' and is part of the Professor Muggle story series. **_

_4 July, 2009_

The fireworks had been successfully launched with only one person who caught on fire, but it was only George Weasley so I considered everything a success. Yes, my neighbors in the little village of Stintborough thought me a crazy American expatriate, but with George helping me I couldn't resist celebrating the Fourth of July. After all, I had over thirty years of annually blowing shit up before I moved to Scotland, started teaching Muggle Studies and all of that. As the crowd of Muggles started moving back down to the village I sat down in the ancient lawn chairs that my brother had brought over as a gift. They were exactly the kind I remembered as a kid in my grandparent's back yard; the spindly aluminum frames with woven nylon webs that were slightly itchy, didn't give much and weren't really all that comfortable. I loved them.

"Nice fireworks, bro. You do this every year?"

I shook my head. "Nope. Took last year off. You know, stuff was going on."

Nate laughed. "Shit, that's an understatement. Crazy bitch kidnapping Muggle Studies teachers, the WLF, you had a kid…"

"Yeah." I looked over to a group of witches to see Melody holding HR, who was asleep, and smiled. "Still feels weird to be a dad sometimes."

"Don't worry, Hank. Old Uncle Nate here will help out."

"That's what I'm worried about."

Nate flipped the bird. "Sit and spin."

"Fuck off."

The sound of a woman clearing her throat was behind me, and I slowly turned to see Hermione Weasley covering her three year old daughter Rose's ears. Nate gave me the 'oh shit we're busted' look and we both turned to her.

"Sorry, Hermione." As she walked away hurriedly I leaned in and whispered to my brother "you should hear Ron at Quidditch matches. It'd turn her hair straight."

Nate laughed, but before he had a chance to respond another person sat down next to us, levitating three cold Muggle beers in front of him. I smiled, took a beer and sat back.

"So Harry, better than the time you had to yell at me about lighting fireworks?"

As Nate took a beer Harry reached out for the final floating beverage. "Yes, Hank, much better. Of course, I still don't think having George help you is the really that smart, but at least you've got the Muggles believing your story. That leads me to something I've been meaning to talk to you about. Hank, time to earn the keep of that office of yours."

I took a swig of beer and pushed my glasses to the top of my head. "Awww shit, Harry. Come on, after last year…"

He held up a hand and waved me off. "Nothing of the sort. And I'm glad you and Lavender are visiting, Nate. You can help."

"Me?" Nate almost spilled his beer. "What the hell can I do? He can at least light stuff on fire with his wand, I don't even have a wand."

I leaned over to Harry and stage whispered "That's what Lavender says."

"Oh fuck you." Nate looked back to Harry. "Seriously, how can I help you? What do you need? A new Porsche?"

Harry shook his head. "No, but I think a Land Rover would work." He smiled at me and my brother, and I'm pretty sure my face was as surprised as Nate's. "You've both heard I'm making changes in the Auror training, it's been in the paper a bit, but I'm serious about one thing; my Aurors need to be able to function in the Muggle world as well or better than most wizards and witches. That means they need to learn to drive a car. That's where you two come in. I want you to buy some typical Muggle cars, and one that matches what the Muggle constables drive, and teach a group of Aurors how to drive. You'll just teach the first lot, and after that they'll teach the next group. Should only take a day or so to teach them the basics, right?"

As Nate laughed I looked over to Harry. "Um, may take longer than that. I had driver's education as a class in school; half of the year I learned to drive and the other half I had some basic home economics class. Learned to sew a button, iron, shit like that. It'll take longer than a day or two. Sorry."

Once my brother had finally finished laughing he took another swig of beer and turned to Harry. "And even with the classes some people just suck. Ted, our little brother? Failed his test three times. Took him forever to get his license. I'm only over here for two weeks, and half of that's gone already. You're going to need a lot longer than two days. Plus we grew up with cars, our parents' drove, all that kind of stuff. You're probably starting from square one." He looked over to me. "Think you'll probably have to spend at least the first day just explaining what everything is."

Harry bristled a bit. "Maybe not that long. I grew up with Muggles."

I scratched my chin. "You'll probably have an easier time of it, Harry. Let me ask you this; of the first round of people you're thinking of having us teach how many of them have ever even been inside a car?"

He took a breath and started ticking off on his fingers. "Well, Ron has because Hermione has her little car plus he's been with her parents…" He stopped and looked at me, somewhat disheartened. "Can you do twice a week for a month, Hank?"

"Better make it three times, Harry." I pointed over to my wife. "And you're telling Mel."

Harry nodded. "Fine, sure, not a problem. You two stop by my office tomorrow morning and I'll have Scarlet give you the drafts to take to Gringott's. And from what Hermione's told me about her attempts to teach Ron you probably shouldn't buy anything too expensive."

Nate rubbed his hands together and looked at me with a crazed grin. "Car shopping with other people's money? This is going to be awesome."

After taking off his glasses Harry looked over to me. "Wednesday would work best. I'll have Scarlet owl you on the location." He stood up and put his glasses back on. "I'll see you tomorrow, then."

I shook my head. "Nuh-uh, Harry. You have to talk to Mel first." As he walked away towards the women I heard him utter 'bollocks' under his breath.

-ooo-

"Tell me again why I let you talk me into this?" Melody stood in the kitchen as Nate and Lavender finished up breakfast. "You just want me to drive one of the cars, don't you? I told you I could help teach, but you wouldn't listen to me. No, not me, not a witch who learned…"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, Arthur taught you, you have the frame of reference, yadda yadda yadda. You made it clear that we were on our own, that you have Witch Weekly stuff to do. You know you freak out whenever you even get a mile…"

"Kilometer."

I looked over at Nate and rolled my eyes. "Whatever. Come on, Mel, you know you don't like to drive outside of the village. The one time you…" I sat back in my chair. "We need you and Lavender to side-along us to get us back to the cars to bring them to that old parking lot Harry's got for the training. It's going to take us all morning to get them there."

Nate had almost finished chewing when he responded. "Mffhfhyeah, they're all over the place. Cab fare to get to everything would cost a fortune, and you don't want to misuse Ministry money, right?"

Lavender stood up, per her dishes in the sink and leaned in to whisper to Mel. Obviously it must have been funny as both of them laughed, looked over to us and laughed again. Luckily for them HR started to wake up, and Lavender and Mel left before either Nate or I could ask what was so damn funny. That left us Boyd men sitting at the table, using our age-old method to decide which of us would drive which car to the site; papers-scissors-rock. I won the first round, so I picked the Range Rover. We'd both decided that a slightly used Range Rover would be a good choice as it was a damn good all-around vehicle for the Aurors. It could go damn near anywhere, seated a decent amount of people and was common enough among Muggle law enforcement. I also won the next round , which started Nate bitching, so I picked the next best car, the old Mini.

It went on like that until we were all finally sorted. Nate had the Vauxhaul Astra, the same car the bobbies drove, as well as '85 Honda Civic with the manual transmission and the Ford Mondeo. That left me with the Ford Transit van. Of course, I also had a surprise up my sleeve. At the same dodgy dealer that I found the Honda there was also a left-hand drive, candy-apple red Corvette that someone had imported from America and had done a bunch of aftermarket upgrades on. I had worked the dealer down until I was within the budget I had left so I bought it, figuring that it would give the Aurors experience in American cars if they ever had to go over to the UMS. That was the story I was going to tell Harry, anyway.

Once Lavinia came out from her bedroom, had a cup of tea and became human we started the process of side-along Apparition, picking up the cars and driving to the spot Harry had selected. It was somewhere in the north of England, so it wasn't very populated, as the place was an old industrial park that had long since been abandoned. We got to the dealerships, I signed the papers, and then we were off. Mel and I eventually pulled up in the Range Rover, and I was glad when we stopped because she kept going on and on about how much nicer it was that the Morris and the VW van we had at home. I wasn't in the best mood when I closed the driver's door.

"If you actually drove further than the village I'd consider it. Waste of money for us, with me at Hogwarts."

Luckily I didn't have to hear her arguments, which if I was honest she was probably right about, as the Range Rover was much safer than my cars, because Nate pulled up a few seconds after that with the Civic. And what a Civic. Fart pipe exhaust, big wing on the back, lime green paint job and rims that matched the paint. When he turned off the engine and got out he looked giddy, but Lavender looked as if she'd just been informed she had to lick a flobberworm.

I elbowed Mel. "Watch this." I walked over to the Civic. "Whatsamatter, Lavender? Not up to your usual standards?"

She flipped her hair back and gave me a 'you are so thick it hurts' look. "My car is much nicer."

"Wait, your car?" I turned to Nate. "What'd you get her?"

Nate winced. "Well…"

Lavender put her hand on her hip. "2008 Porsche Cayman S with the six speed manual. Black on black, of course."

I turned to Mel who just smiled and batted her eyes at me. "Not a word."

Luckily we were spared the conversation that I knew was coming by two pops of Apparition. Harry and Ron stood before us, dressed as they normally were on the weekends they weren't working, which mean trainers, jeans and t-shirts.

Ron took a look at the Range Rover, laughed, and then pointed to the Civic. "That one's yours, Harry."

From there it became a little quicker as both Lavender and Nate drove the other cars, and Mel took me to get the ones I was responsible for picking up. Luckily my brother wasn't there when I went to get the Corvette, but when I pulled up with it finally I took one look at what sat in the middle of the lot and smacked my hand on the steering wheel. "That sonofabitch. Look, Mel!"

The brand new Jaguar XK stood gleaming as the sunlight reflected off its bright, white paint.

"Oh, that's pretty." Mel looked over to me. "Why didn't you get one of those?"

I pulled the Vette to a stop and turned off the engine. "Because I don't have contacts with Jaguar like dipshit does."

As we got out of the car I took a look at the Aurors that were assembled and looking over the cars. Seamus Finnegan, a couple of guys I didn't recognize right away but who looked somewhat familiar and Ruby Smythe-Warring. Great, I was teaching one of my former students. Then I got a look at the other two and realized they were newly out of Hogwarts, students who I'd only had when Muggle Studies was compulsory. Well at least one of my former students was Ruby; she was always a quick study.

-ooo-

After Mel and Lavender left, with a few choice words from Lavender that she couldn't wait to hear how class went, I stood with Harry in front of the Aurors. He went over his reasons for the class, the goals and the schedule. He also said that during this class he was just another student and they were to treat him as such, but any faffing about would not be tolerated. He also brought out six driving instruction books, the ones that all student drivers need for learning the rules, and handed them out. That done, he turned and looked to me.

I took a deep breath. "Right. Ok, hands up, how many of you have ever been in a Muggle car?" Only Harry and Ron's hands went up. "Oooookay. Looks like we're going to start with the basics, then. Parts of the car."

From there I used the Astra as an example of a basic, Muggle car. Tires took a while to explain, as they couldn't believe they were filled with only air and there were a few questions on why they were so different on each of the cars that we'd assembled. The idea of different types of cars for different things, the utility of the Range Rover and the van as opposed to the Vette and the Jag, that took some explaining. Finally Ron was ready to move on and told them it was like different types of brooms, how they have some for Quidditch, some for racing, things like that. One the Aurors I hadn't met, David Steeplejack, was confused on why the Vette had the steering wheel on one side while all the others had it on the other. I tried to explain but after a while I just, well, my explanations weren't going very well so I decided to change tactics.

"Let's go for a ride. You can watch what we do and then we'll field questions."

I got in the Range Rover and Nate got in the Astra. Ruby took a minute to figure out the door, but once she had finally managed that she slid into the passenger seat. Ron and Harry sat in the back seat and then I turned to them. "Ok, everybody, buckle up."

We drove around the empty industrial complex and most of my questions were from Ruby, as Harry and Ron had obviously seen someone drive before. She was completely shocked at how many things I had to do simultaneously and was absolutely convinced she'd never be able to drive.

Harry's voice came very calmly from the back seat. "I don't expect you to be perfect on the first go, Ruby. Remember surveillance? It takes time and practice."

I nodded. "It takes a while, but you'll get the hang of it." I pulled over next to a derelict lamppost in the giant parking lot and made a very big mistake. "Ok, who wants to take a turn?"

A few minutes later Ron sat behind the wheel, me in the passenger seat. He adjusted his rearview mirror, buckled up and gripped the wheel tightly. He was muttering to himself something about 'just like Mione showed me, slow at first, don't turn the wheel a lot' and then without warning he started the engine, put it in gear and we started moving. Slowly. Very, very slowly. Like we were in a parade behind a float full of babies on eggshells. I looked over at the speedometer and the needle was barely registering.

"Um, I think you can give it some more gas, Ron."

Instead of the gradual build up of speed, though, Ron had other ideas and mashed the accelerator to the floor, causing us to jerk ahead rapidly, clip the wing mirror off on the next lamppost and hurtle us towards a vacant building.

"Holy shit!" I grabbed the wheel and we missed the building, shot up over the curb and went through a scraggly hedge until we were in the middle of a field. "Lift off, Ron, lift off! Brake!"

I'd forgotten how new drivers are about braking, but Ron did exactly as I said. He took his foot off the accelerator and mashed the brake pedal down as hard as possible, causing everyone to lurch forward until the seat belts grabbed. When we were completely stopped I reached over and turned off the engine. Ron looked as if he'd just bollocked up everything, so I sat back in my seat. "It's ok, Ron. Still better than when my little brother drove for the first time, he put the car in a pond."

His face turned red. "It's not my first time, Hank. Dad's Anglia's much easier than this."

_Shit_. "No, its ok, Ron, this is much different than Hermione's little Fiat, and your dad's car has been, well, he made a lot of magical improvements. Like you said, brooms are different and so are cars. Takes time, even for Muggles, to get used to cars other than the ones they're used to driving."

He unbuckled his seatbelt and opened the door. "Whatever you say, Hank."

Harry was better, but not by a lot. He ended up driving so cautiously that we could have been passed by kids on bicycles. He didn't crash into anything, though, which was a plus. Ruby was terrified when she got behind the wheel, but she seemed to handle the accelerator better than the other two. Finally, after about an hour had passed I took the wheel again and headed back to the other cars to see how everyone else had done.

I could see the cloud of steam rising from a distance. "Oh fuck." Ruby looked over to me and I shook my head. "That can't be good."

It wasn't. The Astra had run head-on into the front of the parked Transit van, and antifreeze pooled out in front of its crumpled hood. I stopped the Range Rover and got out, and on my way to the wreckage I saw skid marks and a massive scrape on the side of the Jag. As for Nate? He just stood there, hands on his hips, and looked at the Jag. Seamus Finnegan was waving his arms about, telling Nate that it wasn't his fault, that the sun was in his eyes.

I looked over to Harry as he walked up next to me. "You might want to have Scarlet increase the budget. I think you just bought a Jaguar."

-ooo-

The next few weeks were tedious and scary, sometimes simultaneously. Harry had personally bought the Jag, since Nate had told the guy at Jaguar he was taking it out for a prospective buyer and wanted to have that all square before he went back to the AAB. Besides that all the students were definitely improving, some more than others. Unfortunately the worst student of all was Ron. He was always too nervous, too determined to get things right and it made him forget everything that he knew and he panicked. So far he'd clipped the wing mirrors off of almost all the cars, banged the curb so hard and so often that I had to get the Mondeo aligned three times and had somehow managed to run over a rabbit. That caused a great bit of distress, as he said that Hermione always braked for the small animals, and he was worried that somehow she'd blame him for trying to do it on purpose. I told him that it was just one of those things, that it happened all the time, and tried to describe the various roadkill that happened all over America. It didn't help.

I considered it a major victory when I got them all to change a tire without magic, as Harry had emphasized that they had to blend into the Muggle world in all ways when driving. Magic was definitely not allowed, but I let it slip when I saw Ron use his wand a couple of times. I figured if he could do it that quickly, fast enough that I could barely notice, most Muggles would miss it as well.

I'd given up on trying to teach them how to drive the different kinds of cars, sold everything off to a small dealer who I convinced to take the junked Astra and Transit as parts cars, and we'd all settled on the Range Rover as the standard Auror vehicle. Made sense to me, and it was easier to try to teach them only one car. I knew anything with a manual transmission was right out, and they took the news that not all Muggles could drive manual transmissions as something of a relief. Except Ruby. She was, not surprisingly, my best student, and was somewhat disappointed that she couldn't learn to shift on her own.

It was on the Tuesday morning of our next to last class, after telling Ruby that I'd teach her to drive stick on my Morris, that Harry walked up to me and put his hand on my shoulder. "Think we're ready to try the real streets?"

"Pppphhhhhht…." I took off my glasses and looked at Harry. "I guess. You know you don't have learner's permits or all that stuff, so it won't be really legal. If anything happens you'll have to wizard us out of it."

He nodded slowly. "Yeah, I know. But I want us to get a feel for what it's really like. Not London, though. Somewhere smaller."

All of the Aurors looked at me intently. I caught the fiercely determined look on Ron's face and turned to Harry. "Ok. I guess…but not on a Saturday. Thursday morning, after the morning rush."

-ooo-

I was enjoying the fact that it was Wednesday morning and I didn't have to get up early when Mel came into the bedroom shaking her head. Instead of waking me up like she normally does, by shaking me or pinching my toes, she pulled the sheet off in one giant motion.

"Shit, Mel!" I sat up and reached for the sheet but she tossed it on the floor. "I don't have to get up yet!"

"Oh yes you do, Hank. One of your Auror students just went somewhere for a drive. No lie in for you this morning, now get up. I've already had two Floo calls."

"Fuck." I fell back in bed and thumped my head against the pillow. "Let me guess. Ron?"

"Hermione's beside herself, she even called into the Ministry and took the day off. Harry's on his way over, now get dressed."

I got up and threw on some clothes, muttering about how stupid ass Ron Weasley was going to get everybody in a lot of trouble, including Harry. After managing to pull myself together and making it into the kitchen Harry arrived via Floo.

"I think I know where he's going, Hank. I can side-along you and we can beat him there."

I put my Braves hat on and grabbed the travel cup of tea that Melody held out towards me. "Let me guess, he took Hermione's car, didn't he?"

Harry shook his head. "Oh no, that would have been too easy. Couldn't, anyway, as Hermione's hidden the keys from him. No, he went to the Ministry warehouse and took _my_ car. I've got a tracking spell on it. Hermione Flooed me that he left a note about passing his test about the same time the tracking spell went off on the car."

"Oh fucking hell, Harry. Do you know how much power that thing has? He's probably wrapped it around a tree by now."

"That's why we need to go, Hank." He walked over and opened the front door. "She's going to kill him."

We arrived at Hermione and Ron's house and were met almost instantly after arriving by Hermione. While I was trying not to barf from Apparition Hermione came running out in her housecoat and handed Harry her keys.

"He hasn't been gone that long, but that road is…"

I stood up and took the keys from Harry. "I know that road, and it sucks. Narrow, all sorts of shit. Come on, Harry." We went to the little carport and unlocked the Fiat. As soon as we buckled up and I started the engine Harry laughed.

"She's really going to kill him this time."

"If he hasn't done the job himself." I backed out of the carport and pointed the Fiat towards the long lane that led from the house to the nearest Muggle road. "Jesus, this thing has no power. If he's been practicing on this, and now he's in your car…fuck."

We sped down the road and I thrashed the Fiat to get it around several lorries. After the small amount of traffic thinned out we started on the curves, those narrow damn curves that came almost directly after cresting hills. It was a crappy road, and the times that I'd driven it in my Morris were bad enough and I'd been driving for years. It was beginning to seem as if we'd never catch up with him and the Harry said something under his breath.

"What?" I turned to him briefly and then looked back towards the road, and then I saw it. Skid marks, a broken fence, and tire tracks through a field. "Jesus Christ." I slowed the Fiat and pulled it off the road. Harry and I quickly got out of the car and began walking through the field. We followed the tire tracks over the crest of a hill, and then we saw it.

The Jag had come to a sudden stop, obviously, which must have been a shock to Ron, as he stood outside looking at the front of the car. I'm assuming the cow had been shocked as well, as it rested half on the hood of the car and half off. Well, the cow must have been shocked for a split second, because it obviously wasn't thinking anything as it was very, truly, and utterly dead.

Harry looked over to me. "Dead."

"Yeah, Harry, the cow's dead."

"No, Hank. Ron. She's going to kill him."

As we walked over to Ron he took one look at us, stared at the cow for a long time, and then finally looked back to us as we were almost to him.

"Wasn't my fault, Harry! Your bloody car…"

I took off my hat. "You're right, Ron, it _is_ bloody."

"Shut up, Hank. Look, Harry, I'm sorry, I know I should have asked, but I wanted to get my license first. 'Mione's been on me about driving, won't let me touch her stupid car, and…" He stopped and kicked the car. "Bollocks."

We all stood and looked at the situation for a while, and nobody said a word. Finally Harry turned to me. "You're the car person, Hank. Now what?"

I shrugged. "I dunno. Never hit a cow before. Car's totaled though. Sorry, Harry."

Ron shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans. "No, I'm sorry, Harry. You hadn't even taken it out, had you?"

That's when we started comparing notes. Melody knew about Harry's car, but Hermione and Ginny didn't. Harry hadn't told his wife yet, and we figured Hermione thought that Ron had borrowed one of the training cars. That left us an opening, and that's when we fabricated our cover story. Ron had taken the Range Rover, but had run out of gas. Petrol. Whatever. Harry and I had found him on the other side of the village, as if he'd come from the training area, and he'd never been down that stretch of road. We'd move Harry's car onto the road somehow with magic and tell the Muggle police that it'd been stolen, using more magic to get all of Ron's fingerprints and stuff like that out of the way of their inevitable investigation. After that Ron and Harry would levitate the cow onto the road, make the fence look like it'd been down and that the car thieves had hit the cow and then run off. Ron would generously offer to buy the cow and then give Harry and I choice cuts of steak. It wasn't much, but we knew we had to come up with something, and fast.

So that's what we did. It was almost lunch time when we finally made it back to Satterbourne in Hermione's Fiat. After I parked the car both Harry and I looked to Ron, scrunched up in the little back seat.

He sighed. "I know, I deserve what I'm going to get. But just remember, I can bring you two in on it as well."

Hermione tried to open the passenger side door but it was still locked, causing her hand to fly off the handle. Before I could unlock the doors she had her wand out and had _alohamora'd_ it open.

"Ronald Bilius Weasley! I could…if it wasn't for the children I'd…get in the house. Now!"

As Ron was in the back seat he couldn't get out unless Harry or I got out first, so I got out quickly and went over to Hermione. After pulling her aside I looked at her apologetically. "Listen, Hermione, don't get too wound up. He wanted to get his license because he wanted to take you out to dinner, to that expensive new place, you know the one. He wanted to drive you there, to show you he could do it. He's just learning, and he's trying really hard and nothing happened. He ran out of gas…petrol. That's it."

Her face softened slightly and Ron shuffled up to her. "I'm sorry, 'Mione."

She looked up at him and her stern look returned. "We'll talk about this later. Thank you, Hank. Harry."

I felt Harry take my arm and we Apparated back to Colony House.

-ooo-

The Thursday morning of the last Auror Driving Class I stood next to Harry as we waited for the others to arrive. I leaned up against the somewhat battered Range Rover and lit a cigarette. "So, Harry, how's Ron doing?"

He ran a hand through his hair, lightning bolt scar peeking through the black mess. "Oh, he's been groveling like mad. Apparently he'd taken Hermione's car out a few times without telling her. Figures that she'd be a stickler for tracking mileage and things like that. She'd already busted him when he did the disappearing act with my car."

I exhaled and laughed. "And he's been married to her for how long?"

"Yeah, he should definitely know better." Harry leaned on the Range Rover next to me. "I told him to skip the class and we'll pick it up next time. Speaking of that, uh, Hank? Hope you won't mind but I think we're going to do this with the Muggle driving instructors, the ones who teach Muggles. You know, the…"

I waved him off. "Makes sense. They've been doing it for years. Plus once you pass that class you'll really be set up to get your license." I took a drag off of my smoke. "So what are we doing today? Do you really need me?"

"Why don't you stay for a bit? You can tell them how much they've improved. I'll tell them Ron's on assignment."

"Is he on assignment?"

"Yeah." Harry laughed. "Said he'd rather go after this bloke who's trying to pass of fake dark objects than try to drive again. Give him time, though, and he'll be back at it again. He's rather mad at you, too. Worked in that new restaurant, huh?"

I shrugged. "It just came to me. So the rest of it? The cops actually bought all that crap?"

"Well…" Harry grinned. "I owled Terry Boot and he took care of everything."

Aurors started to arrive so I put out my cigarette. "If Boot's involved I don't want to know anymore. Come on, let's get this wrapped up."

The rest of the class went as Harry had hoped; we talked about how much everyone had improved, the plans for going forward and the end of my involvement. I did a few rides with everyone, and complemented them on their progress, but soon it was time to head home. I thanked Harry for involving me, accepting some thanks from the Aurors, and then Harry once again side-alonged me home.

Mel was in the kitchen, putting packages into the freezer when I arrived.

"Hank, we have to have Ron and Hermione over soon. You'll never believe what they sent over!"

I took one look at the packages, the white butcher's paper and had to stifle a laugh. "No idea."

"Steak, Hank, and lots of it." She smiled and picked up another package from the box on the kitchen table. "Your teaching must have gone very well."

I took a look at all the beef in the box. "Oh, I think it had an impact."


End file.
